mattbian.co

The Dangers of Classical Education?

// May 26th, 2012 // Comments // Books, Education, Scripture

We live in a world that for centuries trained up its children in the classics, by this I mean the seven liberal arts: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, harmony, and astronomy. These were followed by the queen of the arts: philosophy/theology.

Throughout those centuries, Christianity grew exponentially, Christians believed and trusted in the Triune God and His Word.

Today, our world refuses (or fails) to teach the seven liberal arts and our world (since the Enlightenment, I suppose) doubts or outright rejects the Triune God and His Word. For those who identify themselves as Christians, a multiplicity of them–according to statistics–do not believe in absolute truth or that the Bible is the Word of God.

Yet, somehow, there are Christians who oppose classical education (I hear Francis Schaeffer was one of them) on the grounds that teaching our children the pagan classics will teach them to doubt absolute truth and the inerrancy and sufficiency of the Word of God.

Allow me to repeat myself: for much of our history we taught our children classically (including the pagan poets) and Christianity grew exponentially and Christians presupposed God and His Word. Today, we fail to teach those things and we have failed to produce Christians who presuppose God and His Word.

Studying the classics (pagan and otherwise–there are Christian classics, you know) does not teach children to doubt or reject God or His Word, it teaches them to think. Rejecting the classics prevents our children from thinking and therefore seeing through the foolishness of this world, a foolishness that rejects God.

Embrace the classics, embrace thinking, embrace God.

The Goal of Education

// March 13th, 2012 // Comments // Education, Family

I recently wrote an article for Classical Conversations’s Writers Circle. It is on the goal of education.

A human is a person created in the image of God. All humans are created in the image of God. I am a human. Therefore, I am created in the image of God. This syllogism is both true and valid. However, some humans display the image of God better than others. These humans are more human than those who do not display the image of God so well. When asked what my goal is for education, this is it—I want my students to be “more” human.

In order to be more human, to be a greater reflection of God in this world, my students need to have a better understanding of the God whose image they are reflecting. They also need to have a better understanding of His creation, the world they not only live in, but of which they are stewards and rulers. Having a greater understanding of God and His creation enables—no, empowers—image bearers to make better decisions and to understand norms. However, they not only will have a better understanding of them, but they will have a greater desire to actually do them. We are not only raising thinkers, but also, doers.

You can read more here. I think it is important for parents and educators to recognize what the children learn from the underlying metanarrative of how they teach. Think of it along the lines of a father disciplining his son for yelling at his sibling. If the father yells at the son for getting angry and yelling at his sibling, he has just contradicted his words with the metanarrative of his action and he loses the force of the discipline. If, on the other hand, he disciplines his son in a way that does not contradict his words, his discipline increases its chance of success.

When parents and educators teach, the manner by which they teach can either contradict or enhance the words of their lesson. Which are we doing?

I Want Them to be More Human

// January 27th, 2012 // Comments // Education, Family, Kingdom Theology

I was recently interviewed by Classical Conversations videographer, Tobin Duby. The final question of his interview was, “If I have one goal for my students, what is it?”

Below is the audio of my answer.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Review: Norms and Nobility

// November 29th, 2011 // Comments // Books, Family

Norms and Nobility by David V. Hicks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was another book that took me some time to read. Norms and Nobility is a 157 page book that costs $47. The price tag on such a small book will scare people off from reading it. However, I must commend it to anyone who can get their hands on it. Norms and Nobility is filled with wisdom and depth, there is no superfluity in the book, you will get every penny of your $47 out of this book.

The first two-thirds of the book is about the ideas behind classical education. The second one-third is a practical discussion of the implementation of classical education.

Author David Hicks hits on every point you could possibly think of in regards to classical education. He will challenge how you think of education; he will question your modern suppositions.

One of the main ways in which this book has challenged me is to change the way I approach teaching. My modern suppositions make me want to lecture my students, this comes naturally to me because it is the way I was taught. However, it is actually a quite unnatural way to teach and to learn. Hicks argues that we need to make myths of the truths we are learning. That to present data (or norms, more importantly) as a list of dos and don’ts is to teach unnaturally. Better, we create myths of the norms (as Homer did with heroism in The Iliad) or as God has done with the norms of the Bible (think of adultery being best taught through the story of David and Bathsheba). The real challenge is to learn to do that with those subjects that aren’t naturally myths, the maths and sciences. Literature and history are naturally in myth form, making it easier to teach them that way. But the maths and sciences will take effort. This is our challenge.

A second way Hicks has challenged my thinking is to reconsider the democratic way in which classical education can be implemented. Many have argued that classical education is for the elite, that it isn’t for everyone. But Hicks convincingly argues this is untrue. To Hicks, it is modern education that creates elites, although in many cases the elites have been redefined.

Finally, his practical implementation for classical education is well thought out and usable. He lists books that are to be examples of the types of books to use, not the exact books that would necessarily have to be used. This gives homes and schools the freedom to modify for their individual needs and tastes.

One striking note from the concluding section of the book, “Only the careless and unskilled teacher answers questions before they are asked. The teacher’s chief task is to provoke the question, not to answer it; to cultivate in his students an active curiosity, not to inundate them in factual information.”

If this quotation doesn’t resonate with or make sense to you, I challenge you to read this book–it will.

This is a book that will require reading and re-reading. You will get your money’s worth from this book.

View all my reviews

Teaching Teens: Latin and Math

// April 12th, 2011 // Comments // Family

Next year I will be teaching a group of 11th graders in my Classical Conversations home school community. Today, I had the opportunity to teach them as a substitute teacher. What a great group of kids!

I was able to discuss a couple of things with them as we went through our math, Latin, English, debate, science, and rhetoric lessons.

During math, I encouraged them to understand that math, while an important subject in and of itself, is the basis for a greater understanding of other subjects. I explained that in the Quadrivium, they will learn arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Why that grouping?

(more…)

Teaching Worldview

// April 7th, 2011 // Comments // Family

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to fill in as the host for the Leigh! @ Lunch podcast on BlogTalkRadio. I got to interview Nancy Pearcey, author of The Soul of Science, Total Truth, and Saving Leonardo. We discussed the idea of worldview and teaching it to your children. Nancy was a wonderful guest, very polite and encouraging to a rookie host like me! Listen and let me know what you think of the show!